Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia and Jerusalem reopen mosques as lockdown eases

Image:A Saudi man wearing a protective face mask performs the Al-Fajr prayer inside the Al-Rajhi Mosque in Riyadh

Extensive cleaning has taken place to make sure they are safe for people to use.

Tens of thousands of mosques are reopening in the Middle East after the coronavirus outbreak.

Around 90,000 mosques in Saudi Arabia have been reopened, with government officials arranging for prayer rugs, washrooms and shelves being sanitised before use.

Image:Around 90,000 mosques in Saudi Arabia have been reopened

But the Grand Mosque in Mecca, which houses the cube-shaped Kaaba that Muslims around the world pray towards, will remain closed to the public for the foreseeable future.

The mosque in Medina, where the Prophet Muhammad is buried, will be partially opened to the public to pray outside.

The continued closure of Mecca points to the increasing likelihood that the kingdom may suspend this year's annual Muslim hajj pilgrimage, which falls in late July.


A senior Saudi official has already told prospective pilgrims not to plan for the hajj this year amid the global pandemic.


The Ministry of Islamic Affairs said millions of text messages were sent to people in multiple languages to inform them about the new rules for public prayer, which include keeping two metres apart, wearing face masks at all times and abstaining from greeting one another with handshakes or hugs.


Children under 15 are not allowed inside mosques, while the elderly and those with chronic conditions are being told to pray at home.

Image:Doors have been opened for the first time in more than two months

People are advised to perform the mandatory ablution - where parts of the body are washed before entering the premises - at home since washrooms at mosques will be closed, to use hand sanitiser and to bring their own prayer rugs and copies of the Koran.

The restrictions call for mosques to open just 15 minutes before each of the five daily prayers and to close 10 minutes after they conclude. Friday sermons and prayers are to last no longer than 15 minutes.

Despite taking early and unprecedented measures to curb the spread of the virus, Saudi Arabia has recorded more than 83,000 cases, including 480 deaths.

Meanwhile, Israel has weathered the COVID-19 storm better than some. It has recorded fewer than 300 deaths and has managed to mostly keep its daily infection count to the low dozens since the beginning of May.

But it also imposed severe restrictions which have hit its economy and caused its unemployment rate to rise rapidly. Many of those restrictions, including on places of worship, began to be eased earlier this month.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the third holiest site for Muslims after Saudi Arabia's Mecca and Medina, also reopened for prayers on Sunday for the first time since it was closed in mid-March.

Image:The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem has also reopened

Thousands of people outside the holy site's gates before it opened, with many wearing surgical masks. As they were allowed to enter, worshippers stopped to have their temperature checked.

The mosque was one of Jerusalem's many holy sites, including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Western Wall, that were restricted to worshippers at the height of Israel's coronavirus outbreak.


Next week from Monday to Thursday, Dermot Murnaghan will be hosting After the Pandemic: Our New World - a series of special live programmes about what our world will be like once the pandemic is over.

SKY